SAIL contributes a major chunk of the steel production in the country

2018-06-18

Jun. 15, 2018 - “SAIL contributes a major chunk of the steel production in this country. It is today the foremost in terms of production technology and is at par with any other international steel company,” said Hon’ble Union Minister of Steel, Shri Chaudhary Birender Singh while addressing a press conference during his visit to SAIL’s Rourkela Steel Plant. Shri Singh dedicated the rebuilt Blast Furnace-1 ‘Parvati’ of RSP to the Nation on 11th June 2018 in the presence of Shri Jual Oram, Hon’ble Union Minister of Tribal Affairs. 

Earlier, the Hon’ble Minister also laid the foundation stone of the Burns and Plastic Surgery Department of Super Specialty block at Ispat General Hospital. This unit will be unique in the region and will fulfill the requirements of not only the people of Rourkela but also of the neighboring districts and states.

In the press conference Shri Singh said, “Steel production in the country has reached three digit number for the first time in history, notching up 102 million tones in 2017-18. This has been one of the major achievements in the last four years. India has surpassed Japan to become the second largest steel producer in the world and has also become a net exporter of steel in the last two years. The rated steel production capacity has increased by 32% in the last four years to reach a level of 134 million tonnes,” he added. Shri Chaudhary also mentioned that at present the steel industry contributes 2% to the GDP of the country.

Elaborating about the National Steel Policy (NSP) he said, “As per the policy, we plan to install 300 million tonnes of steel capacity by 2030. The capacity addition at SAIL’s Rourkela Steel Plant will contribute to this vision of the government. We plan to double RSP’s capacity to 8.2 million tonnes, which is our next target for the plant.”

It is worth mentioning here that Blast Furnace-1 ‘Parvati’ is the first Blast Furnace of SAIL that was dedicated to the nation on 3rd February 1959 by the then President of India, Dr. Rajendra Prasad. The rebuilt furnace laced with superior technology has a higher production capacity. With the rebuilding the annual production capacity of the furnace has increased from 0.438 Million tonnes (MT) to 1.015 MT.